CHAP. XI ZANZIBARI 209 



above the harbour, to watch the men unload the dhow by 

 which they had crossed from the mainland. 



This was the last act in the expedition, and I watched it 

 with mingled feelings. On the one hand, I was glad of the 

 prospect of rest and peace, and relief from the anxiety lest the 

 collections and note-books should after all be lost. But, on 

 the other hand, there w^as much that I parted from with regret. 

 The active life, the constant change of scene, the novelty of 

 the experiences, the excitement of exploration, and the interest 

 of the geological problems, had stored the past five months 

 with pleasant memories. But beyond this there was a keener 

 grief. I had now to part with my men. The expedition had 

 offered abundant sources of friction. The men had been over- 

 worked, and when Hobley asked Omari how he had got on, the 

 latter expressed the general opinion by his reply : " Vema, 

 ilia teli khazi, teli khazi " (Very well, but lots of hard work, 

 very hard work). Then the Zanzibar! strongly object to rush ; 

 one of their favourite proverbs is " Haraka, haraka haina 

 baraka" (Hurry, hurry has no blessing). But our caravan 

 had gone at a record-breaking pace. On my return I found 

 that Dr. Moloney claims the record for a journey of this sort, 

 for the Stairs expedition to Katanga, which travelled 1080 

 miles in six months all but ten days. We went 1650 miles in 

 two days less than five months. The porters are used to a 

 warm, damp, equable climate, such as that of Zanzibar, where 

 the extreme annual range of temperature is only 10° F. ; but 

 on Laikipia they had been exposed to a daily variation of fifty 

 degrees, while the climate of the higher camp on Kenya was 

 of a severity of which the natives had never even dreamed. 

 Then I had been relentless, and insisted on the caravan going 

 on and on, stopping for neither rain nor flooded rivers, hostile 

 tribes nor fear of famine. The men occasionally had com- 

 plained, and some of them would have been glad to do more. 

 So we had had our little quarrels ; the men had grumbled, and 

 my temper had not been of the sweetest. But the memory 

 of these occasional disagreements sank into insignificance, in 

 comparison with the long record of ready obedience, willing 

 self-sacrifice, and personal devotion. Now that the last fare- 

 wells had come, I realised that the impression stamped most 

 deeply on my mind was not of peril or privation. Recollections 



P 



